Thursday, May 8, 2008

According to Luke Mullins at his U.S. News & World Report blog The Home Front, those people concerned about nefarious activities taking place at the growing number of foreclosed homes across the country might have a point. In this case, a man with two homes in foreclosure was using them as a growing operation for his marijuana operation -- since he was arrested, one can only guess that he didn't have a prescription from his doctor for medical use of his crop.

A bank employee stumbled upon a foreclosed house used to grow marijuana, leading to the seizure of an estimated $4.5 million in drugs in two houses and an arrest Saturday.

Angel Wayhang Kou, 30, of Rancho Cucamonga was booked into jail on suspicion of cultivating marijuana, maintaining a residence for drugs, theft of utilities and conspiracy...

Narcotics officers seized more than 2,000 mature marijuana plants. Evidence there led police to another house used to grow marijuana in the 6200 block of Long Cove in Fontana, where officers found 500 mature plants and 150 harvested buds weighing more than 150 pounds.

Narcotics officers estimated the street value of the marijuana in the two houses at $4.5 million.

The five-bedroom houses sit in upscale neighborhoods and were rigged with state-of-the- art equipment...

Police said Kou stole about $100,000 in electricity from Southern California Edison between the two homes by bypassing electrical boxes.